A straight automatic transmission apparatus generally installed in a vehicle shifts gears of the vehicle by moving a gear shift lever to the front and rear sides of the driver, and in this case, when the driver rapidly manipulates the gear shift lever without carefully viewing the gear shift knob while shifting gears from a transmission stage (generally, stages P and R) situated on the front side of stage N (neutral) to stage D (driving), the gear shift lever may be moved to stage M (low speed) via stage D in an unintended way. In particular, the unskilled drivers are apt to generate erroneous operations more frequently, and the erroneous operations may cause very dangerous results such as traffic accidents according to the location or driving condition of the vehicle.
In order to solve the problem, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2003-0020697 discloses an apparatus that includes a vehicle speed detecting sensor to interrupt an operation of a gear shift lever when a gear shift that does not agree with a detected speed and a vehicle state is made, to prevent an erroneous operation, but manufacturing costs increase due to a high-priced electronic device and an erroneous operation or an operation discontinuation may be caused by the electronic equipment.
Accordingly, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2003-0016654 discloses an apparatus for preventing an erroneous operation of a transmission by using a mechanical device, but due to a large number of components installed in the mechanical device, the problems such as a gap between components, generation of noise, and damage to the components still exist, and the problems such as a mis-assembly and the complexity of the manufacturing process are not solved.
(Patent Document 1) KR 2003-0020697 A
(Patent Document 2) KR 2003-0016654 A